>>Mission statement - The purpose of the web page is to
inform everyone even the youth to give them a general idea about diseases
and how they can be
prone to infectious pathogens. Men and women of all ages are at risk for
different kinds of illnesses and diseases every minute. I plan on using many
pictures and keeping the vernacular simplistic because I know that certain age
groups depend on pictures to nurture their understanding.
Created by: Jonathan Montalvo
Date: Feb. 21, 2009
Email Link: Give me some
mail!
What are pathogens? Pathogens are Microscopic organisms that
cause illness or disease.
Awareness!
We often wonder why get sick, and if we don't understand the
reasons why we get ill, at times it is because we need to be more aware of our environment
and what harms us. Pathogens are detrimental.
Pathogens-are any kind of harmful germs or parasites that
can put you at risk for diseases or other illnesses. Sounds harsh, well
find out more, continue reading,
IF YOU DARE!
Down below are the five pathogens in
size order starting from the largest, ending with the smallest.
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Parasites- An organism that lives off of
another, either feeding on the host's blood, the host's flesh, or even
eating off of the host's intake. One of the most common parasites that
invade the body is the tape worm and ticks.
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Fungus- is a eukaryotic organism and can be found worldwide.
Most fungi aren't visible to us. They live in most soils, dead matter and amongst
plants, animals, or other fungi. There are many kind of fungus that come in
different forms, shapes, types, and species. Mold is a type of fungus that grows
on foods such as cheese and bread. Some funguses we are able to eat. Humans eat fungus all the time.
Mushrooms are a type of fungi. Watch out
because there are fungus mushrooms that are harmful to your health.
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Protozoa- are microorganisms that are classified
to be unicellular. The
name protozoa means "first animal."
These microorganisms are the smallest of animals. Their primary
objective is to consume bacteria, algal and other microbial organisms.
Most protozoa thrive in species of animals and small insects that carry
the diet that is preferred by these tiny organisms.
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Bacteria- are unicellular microscopic organisms, that survive through the basic needs
of
enzymes, and proteins. They contain genetic
coding, such as DNA. Bacteria
illnesses are curable with antibiotics. They thrive in every habitat on Earth, growing in soil,
acidic hot springs, radioactive waste, and Artic and Antartic conditions. Some
grow in clusters, and some just grow singly. Ten times the mount of
bacteria live inside us compared to the amount of cells in the human
body. Bacteria love places where they can reproduce easily. Places that
are constantly being exposed to human touch are general places we should
be aware about such as sponges and subway rails.
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Virus - Are smallest of all the horrific pathogens.
"A virus is an infectious agent that consists of genetic material,
either RNA or DNA, surrounded by a protein coat called a capsid.
(www.pbs.org)"
Atrocious to our health,
Viruses are treatable but they aren’t curable. Your body’s immune system will have
to get rid
of viruses on its own. There are some viruses that we all should be
aware of that aren’t curable like HIV. Viruses cannot reproduce on their
own, they need to survive through a victim or a host, such humans, animals
and insects. |
A disease is a
Pathogens travel through vehicles, direct contact, or droplets. Vehicles
are organisms or objects that carry these pathogens to a host.
Direct contact would be a
situation in which you stumble upon the microscopic organism. For
example, direct contact would be walking bare foot in pools or typing on a
keyboard.
When a pathogen travels
through a droplet it is carried through the air. Coughing and sneezing can cause a pathogen to spread
through air in droplets.
There are plenty of
diseases to share out there but we really shouldn't want to share them.
Its better to leave them where they are. The pictures below represent
places where we don't think about putting our hands. |
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The bus is a containment of microscopic organisms.
People cough, sneeze, wipe their boogers on the 12 bus windows, and you expect
not to catch anything. It is important that when we go out to public
places that we use a mask to prevent inhaling any droplets that wrap
pathogens. You might look doofy with an inhalation mask on, but hey the person
next to you without the inhalation mask wont be taking a shower tonight,
he'll be busy trying to get rid of his cold.
Colds such as the Rhino virus and Flu get on the bus free without using
a city wide metro card. We don't get a cold from being cold, we actually get
a cold by
weakening our immune system in the cold or through stress. White bloods
cells and red blood cells are rushing to keep us from shivering and
being cold, or from braking down while being nervous or upset. Since our
body might have inhaled the rhino virus (cold) already we would get sick from
our immune system being busy elsewhere. A virus attacks through
opportunity. When we are infected with a pathogen our body's white blood
cells act likes like an army and sends out troops that are called
antibodies for that specific infection. Wonder why we don't get sick
twice within a certain period of time, it is because when our body
triggers an alert for specific antibodies, they linger in our system for
quite a while, and prevent the same kind of illness to reoccur.
Vaccines are
good because they induce these antibodies to be developed. If you asked
yourself why you get sick when you are injected with a flu vaccination
it is because doctors are placing the virus you are trying to prevent into
your system. Hakuna matata! or don't worry because the virus that is
inserted into your system is a dead or a very weak, almost dead virus,
that your body can kill off. A weak or dead virus prevents severe
symptoms and it induces development for your antibodies for that
particular virus to be released into your system preventing another
attack.
There are many types of pathogens. Pathogens cause all type of
infections and diseases. Click Here to see a
list of Pathogens and how the effect the body.
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"A pandemic
occurs when there are three elements present, an emergence of a disease new to a
population, agents that infect humans, causing serious illness, and when agents
spread easily and sustainably among humans.Wikipedia)" A pandemic occurs in a
population of people and is usually a global threat.
A epidemic occurs when a
certain disease travels through a human population during a given period
that exceeds the expectancy based on recent experiences.
Virus
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There are many types of pathogens. Pathogens cause all type of
infections and diseases. Click Here to see a
list of Pathogens and how the effect the body.
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